St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-02-24
On the Eve of Gettysburg.
Correspondence Of N. 2. Tribune.

One evening at a crowded party Civ
en- by Senator Dixon | was forced by
the press into a corner, and on looking
around found my next neighbor was
Secretary Stanton. By and by Dixon
came along, and spying us said /:
"Stanton, tell him the scene between
old Abe and you the night of the bat
tie of Gettysburg" Stanton then re-
lated the following:
Mr.. Lincoln had been excessively
solicitous about the result of that bat
tie. 1t was known that Lee had cross
ed into Pennsylvania, threatened
Washington, and that battle had been
Joined near Gettysburg, upon which in
all probability, the fate of Washington
and the issue of the war depended.
The telegraphic wires ran into the war
department, and dispatches had been
received of the results of the first days
fight, which showed how desperate
was the attack, the stubbOrnness of
the defence, and that the result was
indecisive. All that day and the next
Mr.. Lincoln was in an agony of ankle
ty, as was his wont, to the war office
to ascertain for himself the latest news
instead of waiting for the reports to be
sent him by his subOrdinates. Then
came a long interval when nothing
was heard from Meade, and the presi-
dent was wrought up to an Intense
pitch of excitement. Night came on,
and Stanton, seeing the president worn
out with care and anxiety, persuaded
him to return to the White house,
promising if anything came over the
wires during the night to give him inn
mediate information. At last toward
midnight came the electric fash of
that great victory that saved the
Union.
Stanton seized the despatch and ran
as fast as he could to the executive
mansion, up the stairs and knocked at
the room where the president was
catching fitful slumber. "WhO is
there 2" he heard in the voice of Mr..
Lincoln. "Stanton." The door was
opened and Mr.. Lincoln appeared with
light in his hand peering through the
crack of the door, sin the shortest
nightdress and longest legs" as Stan
ton said, he ever saw on human be-
ing. Before Stanton, who was out OF
breath, could say a word, the presi-
dent, who had caught with unerring
instinct the expression of his face, gave
shout of exultatiOn, grabbed him
with both arms around the waist and
danced him around the chamber until
they were both exhausted. They then
sat down upon a trunk, and the presi-
dent, who was still in his nightdress,
read over and over again the telegram
and then discussed with him the prob
ability of the future and the results of
the victory until the day dawned.
Such a scene at midnight between
two of the greatest Americans whom
this generation has produced, to whom
an all-wise Providence had committed
in largest measure the fate of republi-
can liberty in this Western world, may
not afford a subject for the lOftiest
conceptions of the poet or the painter,
but more than any other incident with
in my knowledge it shows the human
nature of these two great men, and
brings them home to the hearts and
hearthstones of the plain people of
whom Mr.. Lincoln was, on whom he
depended and whom he loved. 1t
shows him brOOding all through those
three awful days, with an anxiety akin
to agony which no one could share
worn and weary with the long and
doubtful conflict between hope and
fear-treading the wine press for his
people alone. And at last, when the
lightning flash had lifted the dark
cloud, dancing like a school boy in the
ecstacy of delight and exhibiting a
touch of that human nature which
makes all the world akin.
AS look back over the intervening
years to the great men and great
events of those historic days, his figure
rises before my memory the grandest
and most majestic of them all. There
were giants in those days, but he tow
cred above them like PopOcatapetl or
Chin bOrazo. He was great in charac-
ter, in intellect, in wisdom, in council,
in speech, in heart, in persOn-in ev
erything.